Waqf Amendment Bill: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, while presenting the Waqf Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha, said India has the largest waqf property in the world. It is the largest landowner in India after the Armed Forces and the Indian Railways, as per the government.
The Waqf Board controls over 8.7 lakh properties spanning 9.4 lakh acres and worth around Rs 1.2 lakh crores. There are 872,328 immovable and 16, 713 movable properties registered under Waqf Board, as per the government data released in September last year.
As per data available on the PRS website, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of 2,32,547 immovable properties in the country. The state is followed by West Bengal (80,480), Karnataka (62,830), Punjab (75,965), Tamil Nadu (66,092), Kerala (53,282) and Telangana (45,682). As many as 2,55,450 properties are in other states.
The Bill changes the composition of the Central Waqf Council and Waqf Boards to include non-Muslim members. The government has said the bill aims to overcome the shortcomings of the previous act and enhance the efficiency of Waqf boards by introducing changes such as renaming the Act, updating the definitions of waqf, improving the registration process, and increasing the role of technology in managing waqf records.
Many critics believe that the new bill may not address the community’s concerns but could instead considerably take away the role of Muslims in controlling waqf properties.
The Centre tabled the Waqf Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha for passage as a marathon 8-hour session began with Union Minister Kiren Rijiju's speech around noon today.